Actors Dan White and Christian Levatino | The Latest With Maya

A conversation with Dan White and Christian Levatino.❤️ 


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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Hi Dan and Kristen. Dan White and Kristen Levettino are actors who are currently starring in the play Black Bag job. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm so excited to be talking with you both.

SPEAKER_03 0:31

Thank you, Maya. So excited to talk to you as well. Yes, Maya, thank you so much. Very happy to be here today.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Thank you. Um, so I am uh pop culture obsessed and I go on stages of shows that I cannot stop watching. Um, is there a show that you are currently obsessed with?

SPEAKER_03 0:56

How about you, Dan? Um right now it's Abbott Elementary for me. Oh. I I watch I watch it with my family. I mean, and it's it's we just have so much joy. I went to I went to public school in Philadelphia uh at the same at that age in in early primary school. So it it just it just brings back joy in me. And my my daughter loves it, she's 12, and we just have a great time. So I and it's it's so funny. And I love the deadpan toilet camera. So that that's my jam right now.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

I haven't seen it, I have to check it. Um I actually I haven't might have been uh able to watch much because I've been so busy with Black Bag job. It's been a uh it's been a lot of hours. Um, I've been working on it for a long time. However, earlier this year, I I I watched Better Call Saul. I had never seen the full series, and I loved Breaking Bad, so I I uh I watched the entire series of Saul, Better Call Saul, and I really enjoyed it. I thought it was wonderful. I love Bob Odenkirk, and it's just a great ensemble. So Better Call Saul.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Wow, I love that. Yeah, I I've been um watching a lot of rom coms lately. Um I've just been in that mood, so I've been watching just at I feel like at least one a day.

SPEAKER_02 2:21

What are some good rom coms you would suggest for us?

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Oh, um I just re-watched um one that uh came out in January called People We Meet on Vacation. Um that's on Netflix that I love. And then there's another Netflix one called You Always that I love. Uh, and then there's another one coming out on Netflix that I'm excited to watch called Voicemails for Isabel. Um so, but the there's so many I I'd recommend, but I think those are the two that are out, newer ones that are out right now.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

Awesome. I'll definitely look some of those up. I I like a good rom com. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

Yeah, those the those are some of my favorite movies. So I've just been going through since Netflix has a bunch, I've been going to re and watching some older ones that I haven't seen and re-watching some of my favorites.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

So have you seen when Harry Met Sally?

SPEAKER_00 3:36

Yeah, I love that one.

SPEAKER_02 3:38

That's a great one, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

One of the classics.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Yeah, yeah. I I've been uh re-watching also uh re-watching ones when I like can't sleep at night, so I started re-watching the proposal last night, which is another one of my favorites.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

So I haven't seen that one.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

Oh, it's so good.

SPEAKER_03 4:04

I'll watch it.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Thank you for the rep.

SPEAKER_03 4:06

A lot of dead night inspiration here. Thank you for that.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

You're welcome. Yeah, yeah. Um, so who has had the um biggest impact on you professionally?

SPEAKER_02 4:25

That's a really interesting question. Um, do you mean in terms of uh somebody that I actually like have like known and worked with, or maybe somebody that I have been inspired by?

SPEAKER_00 4:37

Yeah, I mean, what whichever comes to mind first for you?

SPEAKER_02 4:45

Um I will that's a great question. Thank you. Um somebody that I was inspired by, I would say, is Orson Wells has always inspired me. He's the uh writer director of Citizen Kane, which is a great film from 1941. Uh he had started a theater company um as a young man in New York, and uh they did some wonderful productions. At one point, they did this uh in 1939, they did a production of uh an all-black Julius Caesar and uh I'm sorry, an all-black Macbeth, um, which was hugely popular and called like perhaps the greatest Shakespeare ever put on American soil. Um, and he followed that up with the radio broadcast War of the Worlds. Have you ever heard of War of the Worlds, uh, Maya?

SPEAKER_00 5:33

I haven't.

SPEAKER_02 5:34

This is fascinating. You should check this out. You love pop culture. Um, in 19 uh 39-40, Orson Wells was had a radio show with his theater company, and he took the H. G. Wells novel War of the Worlds, and he he he did it as a as a play on the radio, but he didn't he did it as serious as you can imagine, as if the earth was being attacked by aliens, and so many people believe that we were being attacked by aliens. In the very beginning, he had a tiny disclaimer that said, What you're about to hear is you know a reenactment, but nobody heard that part, and so there's a great story. Um, you have you ever heard of uh John Barrymore? He's uh uh I think he's like a maybe grandfather for Drew Barrymore, but he he'd heard the radio and he took his dogs to a field and he said fend for yourselves because he thought aliens were coming down. So I I always loved Orson Wells, and I like a year or two after that, he made Citizen Kane, which is interesting because if you watch Citizen Kane in the beginning, it says uh it's presented by the Mercury Theater Company. So it's like the one film I and perhaps the greatest film, and it's actually, you know, it's made by a theater company. He used everybody in his company to make the film. So I've always loved Orson Wells. Um, and then really quick to a guy personally that I I went to college with, uh, I had a professor named Jerry Crasser, who just really he taught a class called oral interpretation, and you took it your first semester and you took it your eighth semester. And in that class, you would have to do so many different things, like breaking down plays, including performing a whole play by yourself in class, and you'd have to find the through line, whatever that meant to you. So something about working with Jerry really, I think tweaked my brain to think outside what's normal, if that makes sense. And so, yeah, uh, I would say those two two fellas have been uh hugely inspirational in my life.

SPEAKER_03 7:44

How about you, Dan? Uh so I I'll take the other way. Uh there was a wonderful woman named Fran Bennett who was head of the acting program at CalArts uh for decades. Um and she was the head of acting and and uh head of voice uh while I was there. And I I learned a tremendous uh I just uh learned a tremendous amount about the instrument um of the body and the voice and uh link later method and and um it was a really I I I I think I I found a new reverence uh for the stage because of this woman. Um she was she passed uh in 2020. Um just just a wonderful, wonderful lady, and and she she was responsible for building that program. Um so this was this was somebody that that really inspired me and and and mentored me through my uh through my uh program at CalArts. So that there was Fran for sure. Um and um professionally um professionally I I would say probab I mean like I mean August Wilson has been August the work of August Wilson has really inspired me since I was a teenager. We did uh we we studied fences in tenth grade and that was that was my first foray into into uh duo interpretation in in um in high school. And and I found that I it it was it was the first time that I I I just felt like I knew everyone in the play. Um I knew someone. There were so many archetypes within within the community, not not just the black community, but just in general, um, of the you know the the the struggling father who hasn't become what he wants to become, or as far as the son who would love to um would love to accomplish more than his father did, and who but his father's his hero. And and that that I mean I there's so many, there are so many stories and so many archetypes within Wilson's work um that that made me see myself and my family. And it it just really inspired me as a storyteller and as as as a man and and and everything. So those probably August Wilson and Fran Bennett have have really led me um and inspired me. And I mean, even even with um his unofficial autobiography uh was released in 2023, and just um, you know, his his process and his is I I learned so much about um he speaks about writing and and and I I wanted to mention too, Christian, of course, uh is an acting player, but Christian also has directed and written this uh written this play that we're working on Black Bag Job and as part of a hexology. Um and this is the fourth one. So I just I I have been just while we're here, I've been very inspired by this man um through just watching him write these four four of six plays. And when I when I was listening to, I mean when I read rather August Wilson's autobiography, he talked about how he he hears these voices. He sits down in the in the the characters, you know, talk to him. And listening to, I mean, I just watching Christian write as we go as well. He's just these characters just come into his brain, and it's just it's just awe-inspiring to watch. So, you know, I I gotta give props to my man right here as well. I mean, we worked together, um, we worked together on uh Shakespearean adaptation of Pulp Fiction uh in 2020 and 2012, and we were here in LA and we went to uh we went to the French Festival in New York and did an extension on Broadway there as well. Um, and I I've just watched this man, I've just watched this man just just uh be relentless with each of these plays and create these worlds and these voices. So, you know, Christian Levitino is one of my inspirations as well. I know that for me, but I'm I'm you know, I I can't not make too sweet.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

I love that. Um yeah, so who has had the biggest impact on you as a person?

SPEAKER_02 12:30

As a person, yeah. I mean, maybe my mother. I mean, I if I was to say as a person, I mean, and not as an artist, then yeah, I would have to say probably my mom. You know, I I've known her forever. Uh she was the first I yeah, my mom, because she was the first one I think that you know totally believed, you know, when you say crazy things when you're a kid about how this is what you want to do, like she never uh she always accepted whatever I said as a kid, if that makes sense, in a in a positive way. So she was always uh and she still is just a very positive person, you know, and to her, like I'm the greatest thing that's ever, you know, happened. And and so it's it's very nice to have you know that somebody who who cares and you know who literally birthed you. So uh yeah, my mom.

SPEAKER_03 13:33

Uh about it. Oh, go ahead. No, no, I said how about you? Oh yeah, it's uh my my grandmother for sure. Um my my grandmother is uh she was uh professor emeritus at Jackson State University. She worked there for 38 years. She founded three departments. If you go to Jackson State, the federal building, I mean not the federal building, but the theater is named after her. Um when I was five years old, I watched her lobby Congress to get the federal building in Jackson, Mississippi, the first four black men named after my grandfather, who was a civil rights leader. Um I she lived many different lives. I mean, she was an educator, um, she was the wife of a civil rights leader who they repeatedly tried to kill. Um Angar Everest, who was the NAACP uh NAACP field secretary in um in 1955, uh, worked for my grandfather, Dr. A. H. McCoy. Um, so there's an there was actually an issue of Jet magazine from November 3rd, I believe, 1955, where they talked about troops had to be sent to our house to guard because the clan would shoot it up all the time. Um my grandmother survived and thrived through that as an educator. Uh stood by my grandfather. Went on educated generations of people and was uh uh an entrepreneur in Jackson, Mississippi, up until her late 80s. Um and she lived to 97. With all of that that she was to the world, um she was my she she was my biggest supporter, just like Christian was saying. Like she was my biggest uh fan. And you know, when she when she had the inspiration to because they were supposed to name the uh building for John Stennis, um uh senator uh in Mississippi, who big segregationist and and all the things, and um she she lobbied Congress and and Reagan to do it. And when when she had the idea that I was there, uh little boy, and she said, uh, just out of nowhere, she said, why not? And I'm like, huh, and you know, and I said, What are you talking about? And then I you know went back to playing with He-Man or whatever I was doing. And uh later she told me that was when she had the idea to have this to make history and that that the idea of why not um has been that just the philosophy of that has has has lived within me ever since, and she always encouraged it. So that that's why um Dr. Rose Emily McCoy would definitely be that person.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Wow, that's incredible. I love that.

SPEAKER_03 16:38

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

Yeah. Um so if you had a warning label, what would yours say?

SPEAKER_02 16:51

That's a really good question. Um maybe uh be careful contents is uh may explode. I don't know, that's it's a really good question. Um yeah, I would just say if I had a warning label, I would say uh handle handle uh with care, or this thing might explode. Treat me like a treat me like a landmine that you found and you don't know whether or not it still works. Just be gentle. That's only what I'm creating. I've told Dan, like when I'm creating like an original piece, I always say I want to be treated like a pregnant woman because anything that happens is gonna affect the baby, you know, anything like emotionally. And so I need for me, I love everybody to kind of be gung-ho on board, like excited, because it helps me feed what we're trying to create. And the worst thing that you could ever be around is is negativity when you're trying to make something happen. Art is so hard, like especially original material, to create an original thing that's worth something. And I mean by people paying and coming to see it, it is so difficult to do well, and everything has to line up just right for it to happen well, that you need your whole crew to to buy into what you believe in, and and and only then can you make something truly special. And so I think that to me is is I don't know if that answers your question, but somewhat. Um, but anyway, yes. Uh just be cool.

unknown 18:41

Dan?

SPEAKER_03 18:43

Yeah. Um yeah, I um I'm intense. That's all. He is, he's very intense. That's just where, I mean, you know, and and not not in a not in a not in a way, not not in a harmful way, you know. Not not in not any not as I'm just intense. That's all it's a good intensity. Yeah, so yeah, well, as I've grown, I've channeled it. So yeah, but that that's that's what I would that's what I would say. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I can I I I I hate to give a one-word answer, but yeah, it is if if if I if if I'm in, I'm in. You know what I'm saying? Uh and and but that that's a that's a good thing, though. I and I just channeling the intensity and focus, channeling the focus so the intensity can be on one thing at a time is something that um is something that that I've you know grown with over the years and uh continue to. And it's something that uh yeah, it's it's it's a it's a good thing when it's channeled. And I that's that's what I try to do.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

Yeah. I I like both those warning labels.

SPEAKER_03 20:06

What's your warning label, Ms. Maya?

SPEAKER_00 20:09

Um I think I think I need a few, but um, I think the big one would be prone to anxiety, don't overload. Um so I think that's the big one. And then I think I'd have some smaller ones too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:31

Well, I think we all have that one.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

Yeah. Yeah, I think um another one where I think another warning I'd need is like when I'm talking with um a friend of mine, I sometimes unintentionally stop listening because I just get distracted. So I think that's another one though. Sometimes unintentionally stop listening.

SPEAKER_03 21:02

Well, tell them tell them to stay more interesting next time.

SPEAKER_00 21:05

Thank you. Um that's what I tell him all the time.

SPEAKER_04 21:08

So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

Yeah. Um, so what genre of movie would your life story be told as?

SPEAKER_02 21:26

That's a good question, too. Uh it would it would uh it would for me, it would be uh, I would say predominantly a you know a comedy with some uh some drama sprinkled in, you know. Um I yeah, I I'm usually a happy fella, so yeah, I would say like a Cohen Brothers movie. Sprinkled with comedy, but you have these intense little moments here and there of, you know. What the heck's going on? Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:02

How about you, Dan? That's that's a great question. Yeah. Huh. Let's see. That's a very good question. What you got? Yeah, you got me. Yeah, I yeah, I'm yeah, there's definitely because I actually did I actually was I I did stand up comedy like pretty intensely for about eight years. Um and I I mean I I played sports and then I did comedy. And I mean there's there's a few different um there's been a few different aspects of life that have been fun. So I I it would probably be I I don't what movie would what kind of movie would that be? Um yeah, just uh yeah, drama with comedy sprinkled in too. I I like that, I like that uh description, Krishna. It would be it would be that, you know, with with some you know with some major cathartic instances throughout.

SPEAKER_00 23:15

I like those. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:19

Yeah, I'm thinking now. I'm like, uh huh.

SPEAKER_00 23:25

Yeah, I I've always wanted um my life story to be a musical rom-com. That's my dream.

SPEAKER_02 23:34

I like that. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

Thank you. Um, so what is the biggest obstacle, either personally or professionally, that you have overcome?

SPEAKER_02 23:58

Oh, that's a really good question. Uh, the biggest obstacle. I mean, I'll tell you, uh, just still being here doing it. You know, I've been doing the uh gangbusters for 25 years, uh, so you know, to be a making theater on your own for 25 years and to still do it. Like I always tell people, I don't love theater, I'm addicted to it. And if I could stop, I would, but I just can't. And so that's how I know it's so special to me because I don't even want to do it, but I have to. Uh so I would say, like, I don't know, especially, you know, I the age I'm at now, like most of the people I came up with, they they've gone on to get real jobs, like they don't create anymore because you know, it is so tough to build a life around being an artist. It's it's it's it's so tough. Like, I can't explain it. And if anybody was to ask me, I would say, don't do it. And only do it if you have to, because there's so many better ways to spend your life. But if you do have to do it, I don't think there's anything better. I don't think that the the feeling that you get from either walking off a stage or hearing actors say what you wrote is to me, it's it's Christmas morning. You know, it's your birthday. It's it's there's no greater feeling than that. Like I just had a birthday this year and it was a big birthday. And rather than do anything, I just wrote black bag job because I knew it was coming. And I said, on my birthday, like I want to do something that matters like in the long run of my life. Like I don't want to spend one day with friends and have a cake, like I want to put something on paper that'll be around after I'm gone. So once again, I don't know if that answered your question, but I would say the biggest obstacle is just still standing, still making things that matter, still getting guys like Dan to want to play with me, you know? Like that's such a hard thing to do. And yeah, I'm extremely grateful for that. And I'm grateful for Dan.

SPEAKER_03 26:11

So back at you, brother. Yeah, uh yeah, that that's I I I don't want to copy the answer, but yeah, it's it's definitely I mean the I echo so many of the sentiments. Um if if I stopped acting, part of me would die. Like I like like I would they they talk like I've I've had a I've had a series and I came close to other things for years and and I kept coming back. Um there's always some way to continue to perform, you know, albeit the the that not quite. I mean the the I mean the series, I got a series like right out of school. And it was um, and then I then I didn't like then I didn't book any then I didn't book any TV and film for for some years. Um and I came close to a lot of things, like four callbacks. Um by the time by the time I got general hospital in 2021, I had been up for major roles. I've been auditioning for them for uh 18 years and come close to like the last wire, like I think four times before that. You know what I'm saying? Um it's the obstacle the I'd say the obstacle is you know when you when you're almost there you can taste it, you know, but it goes another way, and you but you gotta keep going. Um and I the obs the obstacle was because when I when it first when I first got out of school, it was like things kind of came really quickly. And so the obstacle has been to get the um the per to have the perseverance and to work that hard every time, regardless of what happens, because you like Christian was saying, because you have to, because there's there's that joy in, I mean it's just like with this. I was talking about our our acting and our writing, these are instruments. It's like if you play, if you play piano, if you play something, you nail a song or you nail it, you nail a piece that you've been working on. Um there's there's there's such joy in that and and such um there's just a sense of accomplishment that that you set out to do something. Not not even like people's reaction per se, but the fact that you know you you lived up to your instrument as much as you could. Um there is a wonderful joy in that. Um and it it I I stopping would take that away. And the regret of uh the pain of regret from stopping is far greater than anything uh than any perseverance, especially when you do something that you really really enjoy doing and you feel like you know, I feel like God gave me a gift, and I'm I'm honoring I'm honoring talent God gave me by doing everything I can with it. You know what I'm saying? So um I um you know to still be here after because Christian, when'd you get to town, bro? 1999. 99, okay. Yeah, I came in 2000. So we we both we both been here over a quarter century and had success and had setbacks and everything, and we're still we're still standing, we're still creating, and um and and I think I speak for both of us. We're we're we're very proud of of what we have going on right now. Um not not just not just from the production in in terms of you know the show, but like he was saying, I mean, this is the story of King's assassination was largely not told. And um we're we're shedding light on something that I mean should have been national news in 1999. Um the the King Estate and Coretta Scott King sued the U.S. government for wrongful death. Um and the government was found responsible for King's assassination. I mean, I I was I was talking to someone yesterday, and they never they I mean someone in their 60s who had no idea. And she told her husband, and her husband just on reflex, oh, that's a conspiracy theory. Uh you know, and and people just don't understand. So we are here telling a story um about one of the, you know, one of one of our, you know, historical, I mean, someone who really bent the arc of history and you know gave us faith that the moral arc does bend toward justice, right? The truth needs to be told, the truth needs to be understood, um, so we can grow. So this this story that we're telling is is, I mean, it's a tremendous responsibility and a tremendous honor to be able to tell it. Um so you know the ability to be able to stand here after after this many years and still be doing something that we really believe in, that we're really excited about, um, that is part of a legacy, like this man was saying, something that's gonna be around, people can look back. I mean, the the actual king tapes will be declassified next year. Um and so, you know, this to we're we're here telling this story, and and you know, again, thank you, Christian, for writing uh this because it it it needs to be it needs to be told. So I I I I I answered your question. I think I answered your question and gave you a little bit more information, but it's important.

SPEAKER_00 32:19

Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Um so what small things bring you joy on a daily basis?

SPEAKER_02 32:32

I would say my cats. I have three cats. They they are they're like my they're my children. Uh they bring me so much joy. Um, I'm hardly ever in a bad mood. Uh, I think a lot of that has to do with having them. So uh I would say my cats, my cats, they're very special to me and very, very important. And their names are gonna be saying right now. They're Lilu, Larue, Alfalfa, and Stellar.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_03 33:05

Yes. Um, so my my family, of course. Um my my fiance, Jolene. We've we've actually been together for for many years. We've been engaged for a couple years. Um, and we have a beautiful, beautiful daughter uh who just turned 12. Her name is Mila. She'll be going into seventh grade. Uh I'm have I had to retire. Um I I've called her my pumpkin levy since she was born, and now she's now she's too too grown for that. So I told her, I was like, you're always gonna be my levy. So it's uh yeah, it's I just get tremendous joy from from my from my my ladies here. We have cats too. We have uh we have stormy and rainy um that we rescued uh both and um they they give us a lot of joy as well. Um it's just um yeah, it's uh the these are these are my my you know main plug-ins, um you know, when I need some love, and uh and my my my why as well. You know, I mean again Christian talked about legacy and with my with my daughter. I was so excited I was so excited when I found out she was gonna be a girl because again, I was talking to you about my grandmother. Her name is Melania Rose after Rose, my grandma. Um there's there's a lot of lot of a lot of girls with the middle name Rose after their grandmother. It was a very common popular name, but it's very special to me because my grandma was so special to me. And I just said, Oh, I said I my um I said I I look at I looked at her, I said, okay, I remember, and I I'm not to say, and my I and I'm not leaving my mom out. My mom, my mom and I are very tight as well, but I was just I while my mom was in medical school, I was with my grandmother when I was little, little. And so a lot of the love and the way she, my grandmother treated me like a little man. And so I treat my I've always treated my daughter. I've never like spoken, I mean that nickname is is is a little childish, but as far as the way I the respect I give her and the guidance I give her, it was a direct, it was a direct uh, it was a direct um transfer of the way I was treated when I was that age. And that gives me a lot of joy to see her grow up. Um and that. So those are those are those are my my big sources of joy in life.

SPEAKER_00 35:50

Oh, I love that. Yeah. Um so if you had to pick any character in a book, movie, play, or TV show who is most similar to you, who would you choose and why?

SPEAKER_02 36:13

I would personally say Tom Sawyer. And I would say that because uh I don't know if you ever read Tom Sawyer.

SPEAKER_00 36:26

Uh I actually don't remember.

SPEAKER_02 36:30

It's a great it's a great book. I don't know if it's it's a if they still, you know, when I was a kid coming up, it was a book that you got in elementary school. Uh there's a great follow-up called The Uh Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Huckleberry is Tom Sawyer's friend. But Tom had a way, there's a moment in the book where he's painting his fence and he doesn't want to paint his fence, and he starts getting, he pretends he's having so much fun, and the neighborhood kids see him, and he ends up turning it into a situation where the neighborhood kids pay him to paint his fence because he made it look so much fun. And so there's a way, like I bring it up because it's kind of the same way with theater. Like you have to, and I am having this much fun, but if you show them, the actors, everybody involved, that you're having so much fun, they'll jump on board and they'll start painting the fence the same way and they'll have just as much fun. So for me, I don't know if that that makes sense, but Tom Sawyer has always been like, I would say, the one character that I uh I relate to. And also this Oh no, I was just gonna bring up something Tom Sawyer does that's really funny is they they have a funeral for him because they think he's dead, and he shows up at his own funeral to see who's crying, who cares that he's dead, and it's just this and he's a boy, he's like 12 or 13. So anyway, Tom Sawyer. What were you gonna say, Dan?

SPEAKER_03 37:57

That's fun. No, because you the the I can see that I remember an image clear as day of the of the kids lined up to paint the fence. And and he's eating an apple too, and he eating an apple too, and he's like chilling, like chilling, literally enjoying the fruits of like yeah, I love it, I love it. Yeah, uh no, that I I love, yeah. You just there's childhood, there, there's there's that's wild. Thank you for sharing that because you just inspired my conversation. Um that that's so funny. Um have you ever okay now we're in we're in like books from like books from like fourth grade. Yeah, have you ever read Call It Courage?

SPEAKER_02 38:47

I did in elementary school, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:50

Okay, so I okay, all right. Now the character of Mufatu in Call It Courage, he was a boy. Um his mother uh he and his mother got lost at sea and the boat capsized and his mom drowned, and he's a Pacific Islander, and his but mom got him back to shore and then and then you know died of of of you know water intake. And and so he was afraid of the sea, right? Now my mom didn't pass away up. This is not where the where I'm why I'm you know making this comparison, but he had some fears uh based upon you know some limitations as a kid, um and he was afraid to go to sea. So everybody kind of ostracized him, and he went out to sea on his own. And he while he was on this island, he like killed an octopus and and a shark because he had to save his dog, and he killed a wild bear, a wild uh boar because he had to eat, he had to do all these things. Um okay call it courage. I would love to Mafatu in Call It Courage was my is kind of like an inspiration to me. Um and because you know, I was I was I was like a a heavier kid, and I got into sports and I played football and I I went to college to play football. Um and I, you know, I learned to box. I mean, I I did that I did a lot of these things uh out of necessity. Uh my first grade year of school when I was telling you about Philadelphia. That year, this is true. I got slashed in the face on the first day of school with a Dukes of Hazard metal lunchbox. I got beat up in about four fist fights on the on the schoolyard, and somebody poked me with a pencil in the hat. This all happened in first grade. Now, this wasn't it now, avid elementary, none of this happens in avid elementary, I was talking about, but I I I I got bullied a lot as a kid. So I learned martial arts and I played sports. And I I so I I did, I was I was afraid, and so I built myself up in these different field, in these different like like ways, and these sports and different things, and made myself stronger. So that was um, I don't talk about that very much. I don't know that I've ever publicly talked about like like the reason for that I got into martial arts. I'm a black belt in Taekwondo and I boxed for 25 years. Um and um like but I I did that for for confidence and courage and that because I had to overcome some fear. So Mafasi wouldn't call it courage. I ain't kill no boar though.

SPEAKER_00 42:02

Oh wow, yeah. Um so what no matter how many times you see it always takes your breath away.

SPEAKER_02 42:17

Wow, that's a really good question. I mean, I'll say like even last night we you know we had our opening night of the play, and for me to know that you did something that you said you were gonna do, and you finished it, I think a lot of a lot of us say we're gonna do things, and even when you do do things, you don't do everything you say you're gonna do. So those moments in life where you you know I look out there and I see strangers who left their house, who paid money to come see something, that means so much to me. That's probably I would say that it it every time I see that, like I'm so humbled by that, I'm so grateful that people took the time to come check out what you made. So I would say that always takes my breath away to a certain degree because I I know what it took to get there, and nobody else does really. Like nobody else knows, like because everybody, you know, you you you you build this thing from the ground up, you have a blueprint, and then you have you know, slowly you can't invite people because you don't have it, nobody's gonna jump on board. So you it's funny when you're creating, you have a moment where you're like, okay, now I can show it to people, and I think they'll be interested. But there's this whole time before that. It's like you ever see that thing of like what uh an iceberg looks like? It's like it's just like that much above the water, but underneath the water, it's that deep. And that's kind of like what creating is like is nobody sees that how big the iceberg is, they just see the part showing up top. Um, I don't know if that's uh how that analogy plays, but yeah, yeah. To answer your question, I would say it's it's seeing strangers that have come to support something that you know I've created that I've never experienced anything like that. It's it's it's better than Christmas Day, it's better than your birthday, it's it's a it's a magical feeling. How about you, Dan?

SPEAKER_03 44:21

Uh right, for me right now, it's it's the way my daughter smiles when she serves in volleyball. Straight up, straight up. No, it's because it's like um she she was I I've watched this child because we w we she the club volleyball, I mean uh rec volleyball gets taken away. I mean, it got taken away, it gets the the uh slots get taken so quickly that even though we went like as soon as we could the day that there was a slot, they were all gone. So she was outside practicing her serve with no guidance for a year until the next year, until it came up, and she got on the club team, I mean on the uh on the rack team, and she uh she excelled and now she's playing club, and I just see the joy, I just love that she was able to start this sport at an early age because it's something that she really loves, and I love to see that joy on her face because I feel like she's really found a passion, and um it's just such a blessing to have a passion to find it and thrive in it, and when I look at the way she smiles when she's about to serve, it it just encompasses all of that to me. And so yeah, that that's that's really it. That's really it. I'm just uh it's just um I'm I'm proud, I'm grateful, I am um I'm I'm I'm hopeful, and I just uh you know, I just I see a very bright future and it just it uh truly takes my breath away.

SPEAKER_00 46:26

I love those. Yeah. Um so I just have a few more questions for you if that works.

SPEAKER_01 46:34

Of course.

SPEAKER_00 46:36

Um so if you could give someone in your life a star on the walk of fame, who would it be?

SPEAKER_02 46:47

That's such an interesting question. Somebody in my life, a star on the walk of fame.

SPEAKER_04 46:58

That's a really tough one.

SPEAKER_02 47:10

You know, there's a fellow that I've worked with. Dan has seen the shows with him. Uh, he actually makes an appearance in this play uh in Black Bag Job as a as a headquarters voice. But it would be my boy uh Derrett Sanders. Uh he's just this fella I met on my first play uh sunny afternoon 13 years ago. And he ended up just becoming this. If I was the coach, he was the quarterback. And I just really appreciated uh, you know, he was with me for the first three plays in this hexology, and he he he's just such a damn fascinating fella, especially on stage. Like he's one of those guys, every word that comes out of his mouth, you buy it, you believe it. But on top of that, like he's so much talent, he's talented, he can do sound design, he's a director, he's he's just he can do it all. And so he's a guy that I definitely uh I take my hat off too. And if if I had to make a a star on the boulevard, if somebody said for somebody, I would say I'd put a star for Derrick on the boulevard.

SPEAKER_00 48:12

I love that.

SPEAKER_03 48:14

He ain't lying. Derek is amazing. Like I like I watching that dude work is is it's it's a joy. It's a joy. Um, such such a dynamic actor and and and um I I especially I mean in sunny afternoon and then uh Hojo's um the this the first and third of this hexology, Hojo's is the one before Black Bag job. Yeah, you you you Derek is Derek is no joke. I mean, it was it was between Derek's performance and this man and this man's words, it it was like um I can't figure out which performance is my favorite. I think I slightly lean toward Hojo's. Um but yeah, I I uh yeah, he's he's I I concur. Derrett's Derek's awesome. Um happy birthday, Derek. His birthday was last week. Oh word, uh happy birthday, Derek. Um for me, it's uh a woman by the name of Denise Woods. Um who's I mean, she's she's uh had so much impact not only on me but on on the Calite students. But beyond any of that, she's a she wrote uh The Power of Voice, which is a uh a New York Times bestseller. She was Will Smith's coach on Ali that that uh he was nominated for his first Academy Award for. Uh she worked with Herschel Ali, um David O'Yellow on Bath Reeves. Um, she is the driving force to Raja G. Hinton. She's the driving force behind so many performances um in this town and has has shaped so many wonderful dynamic performances and and and and really shaped Hollywood in a lot of ways um from behind the scenes. And I mean, she's she's starting to get that recognition, but I mean, like Keith David literally just got his walk of fame last week, his starring walk of fame last Thursday. Uh Denise, Denise and Keith studied, they they were, I think they studied in high school together, and then they studied at Juilliard together. And then Denise was faculty at Juilliard, and then she was faculty at Cal Arts. And so this is somebody that that is is just a boss in the world that um really deserves her star on on the on it, certainly has one in my life, but deserves one out there on Hollywood Boulevard as well.

SPEAKER_00 50:57

Oh wow, I love that. Yeah, you um uh just when uh you mentioned David. I I always I like always mess up his last name. I'm always mispronounce it. Um yes, yeah, thank you. Um uh he uh is in one of my um favorite uh thrillers. Um it's called Don't Let Go. Okay, and yeah, sorry just um my brain always like goes back to if I hear something, uh it goes back to a certain show or movie. So sorry, my that's what my brain wanted.

SPEAKER_03 51:44

That's association, that's what happened. I get it.

SPEAKER_00 51:46

Yeah, right on you, yeah. Um so if you had the opportunity to put a message on a billboard for everyone to see, what would it be?

SPEAKER_03 52:06

Mind so keep going. I like that.

SPEAKER_02 52:11

I like that, keep going. Um maybe your best day hasn't happened yet. Yeah, I like that.

SPEAKER_00 52:25

Yeah, I want to see both of those. Yeah, yeah. There's things my mom always said to me and my sister growing up that have always stuck with me, and there's um one of my favorite shows, there's a line that has always stuck with me. Um, and so I think uh I want to put things my mom has said, and then um these lines from um it's called A Million Little Things. There's two lines that have always stuck with me that I think I'd also want to put on a billboard.

SPEAKER_02 53:13

What are they?

SPEAKER_00 53:14

Um so there's one um that it's in the second episode of the first season that there's a character that uh he um just says love each other, and that that's always stuck with me. And then the very um last line of the series in the um series finale, uh another character he says have a beautiful life. Always get I always messed it up. I can never remember if he says have a beautiful life or have a wonderful life, but he says one of those, and I want to put that also on a billboard.

SPEAKER_02 54:00

Like that.

SPEAKER_00 54:02

Yeah, yeah. Um, so my final question for you is um, today, what are you most grateful for?

SPEAKER_02 54:17

For for me, I to be able to create, to be able to do what I grew up wanting to do and what I went to school for, to still have the passion and desire and the opportunity to to make to make original work, to make theater. So uh yeah, I that's that's it. You know, especially we had a show last night, it was opening night, which was an you know an amazing experience to to to live through. As you know, I've been working on this for quite some time. And then we have a late night show tonight at 11:30. So, you know, 12 hours from now we'll be on stage at at midnight. Um, so yeah, I'm I'm very grateful for that. And uh I never take it for granted. How about you, Dan?

SPEAKER_03 55:13

Yes, yes. Yeah, I I I echo that. I mean, it's just the uh the the I mean right at this very moment the opportunity to play and and and talk about and and share a story of historical significance and you know um give people I mean give people something to walk away. I mean my manager came last night and he said that really made me think and you know I'm grateful for the opportunity to um to create and play and educate and hopefully um give some give someone something to think about. You know, I mean that's it's a it's a wonderful gift that we have um as as creators and storytellers.

SPEAKER_00 56:11

So I love that. Yeah. Um yeah, well, uh thank you both so much for joining me. Um I've loved talking with you, so thank you so much. Thank you for having us, Maya.

SPEAKER_02 56:30

Yeah, and your questions are are wonderful. Like you really you really made us think, and uh yeah, I really appreciate you having us on. So thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 56:41

Thank you so much. Yeah, I um I've been so excited to talk with you about so thank you, and um, I hope you have a great rest of your day.

SPEAKER_02 56:52

Thank you, you as well, and hopefully we can do this again sometime on the next project.

SPEAKER_00 56:56

Yes, I would love that.

SPEAKER_02 56:59

Awesome.

SPEAKER_03 57:00

Thanks again.

SPEAKER_00 57:01

Thank you for Maya.

SPEAKER_03 57:03

Have a wonderful day.

SPEAKER_00 57:04

Thank you, you too.

SPEAKER_03 57:05

All right, don't let Maya.

SPEAKER_00 57:07

Thank you. Uh and that's a wrap on today's edition of the playlist with Maya.